This blog has nothing to do with gorillas (though I love 'em)...fellow bloggers have inspired me to share vintage images of Disneyland from my personal collection. But don't be surprised if you see something from a World's Fair, Knott's Berry Farm, or someplace else that is cool!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Here are some more scans from a large group of August 1969 slides; I promise that there are actually some good ones in the bunch - - - just not these! To be honest I am trying to get a lot of the duds out of the way.

I've never actually walked over to check out Fowler's Harbor when I've been to the park. I assume you can't get very close to it (or else there would be guests all over the place). That Fowler fella was mighty smart to build a little harbor… it's just the thing for fixing your steamboat or your three-masted sailing ship! Does anybody know if any sound effects come out of the buildings? Voices? Banjo music? Grand Theft Auto noises?

I don't know why so many of these pictures are completely "blown out"; maybe it was the camera's settings, maybe it's just that Ektachrome film is nowhere near as great as Kodachrome. Believe it or not, I darkened this one considerably in Photoshop. and it still looks like a A-bomb just went off nearby. Still, I like this one because of the view of the pond below, formerly part of the beloved Monsanto House of the Future gardens.

The suspension bridge on Tom Sawyer Island is fun, though less fun when you are just one of an endless line of people walking across. At least that has been my experience. Fortunately, these folks are so dazzled by the blinding sun that they don't even know what's going on.

10 comments:

Nancy, the ponds and waterfalls from beneath the HOtF remained behind for a long time. I've never gone to look at it, but apparently the central support of the House is still there, slightly hidden by plants.

I usually go back there after eating at the Harbour Galley. The Fowler's Harbour buildings are actually an island within a walkway that loops around it along the riverfront. It's called Mill View Lane and comes back out at the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes dock.

Melissa, bold words, unless you like eating coonskin caps. WHICH I DO.

Irene, my brother in-law is a professional photographer, and he loved Ektachrome, but it sure doesn't seem to have the long-lasting quality of Kodachrome. Maybe, if stored correctly, it was fine. He had many reasons why Kodachrome was problematic, too many to list here!

Irene again, thanks… hopefully I will remember to check it out the next time I go to the park. Whenever that is.

K. Martinez, "Mill View Lane", COOL! Another factoid that I have never heard before. How did you know that??

@Nancy, the white rails are stair handrails down to a lower level in the gardens. When HOF was removed, the multi-level gardens were left alone. There were several patios on different levels with ponds and fountains, linked with walks. I think these were just the stair rails from when the house was still there.

@ Major and K Martinez. When that photo was taken in 1969, the walks around Fowler's Harbor were "backstage". You could see it clearly from what was then the Keel Boat landing (this is now the TSI raft landing, in 1969, the raft landing was further east).

There was always a rope or barrier across the walk to prevent guest entry into the dead-end walk. I longed to run down that when I was a kid.

Some time much later, maybe when Splash Mountain was added, the area was reconfigured into a through walk-way with a dining patio, a food service etc. Part of the walk is now a bridge over the loop end of the Splash Mountain flume which looks like you will shoot out into the river.

It's now a really nice out-of-the-way place to watch what's left of the mill and improves circulation when the queue is long at Splash Mountain.

It's also nice, when the Columbia is in the dock, you can walk right under the bow and examine the ship up close which was never possible before.

The remodeled buildings of Fowler's Harbor don't have the exquisite attention to miniature scale and proportion of the old ones in the photo, but on the whole, I think this modernization is an improvement.